The invention generally pertains to the art of food preparation and, more specifically, to a packaged dough product, as well as a method of packaging the dough product. In particular, the invention is concerned with employing a separator to compartmentalize a tubular container for packaging both dough and an additional ingredient in separate regions within the tubular container, wherein the dough proofs and expands within the package so as to vary the relative volume of the separate regions and alter internal pressures within the tubular container.
Due to the time demands placed on consumers by the everyday activities of modern life, the preparation of food products and meals from scratch has decreased and the popularity of pre-made or partially pre-made foods has increased dramatically. A food product that has become increasingly popular in a pre-made configuration are dough based food products such as, for example, developed and undeveloped dough products. These dough products can be stored in either a refrigerated or frozen state for extended periods and are “freshly” prepared in a matter of minutes as desired by the consumer. In some instances, these dough products can represent a substantially final product requiring only a heating or baking step such as, for example, cookies, bread, bread sticks, biscuits and croissants. Alternatively, these dough precuts can represent components or building blocks of a final product such as, for example, a pie crust or pizza dough that will be combined with a variety of other ingredients to form the final product. Regardless of whether the dough product itself constitutes a final product or merely a component of the final product, these dough products constitute enormous time savers for the consumer in that the consumer need not prepare the dough products from scratch using base ingredients such as, for example, flour, water, eggs, yeast, salt, sugar and the like.
One popular method for packaging and storing dough products has been to use a can format, wherein the dough product is contained within a cylindrical, paperboard body having caps at both ends of the body. Depending upon the dough product, these cans can be constructed to withstand increased internal pressures. While the can format can work very well for dough products, there are some instances in which it is desirable to include additional ingredients with the dough product in order to complete or enhance enjoyment of the final cooked dough product. In order to accommodate these additional ingredients in a can format, a variety of designs have been utilized for separating the additional ingredients from the dough. Certain known configurations employ the use of separate cup assemblies to store the additional ingredients. While cup assemblies can be successfully used to separate and store both dough and additional ingredients in a can format, the use of these cup assemblies can lead to an increase in packaging costs due to increased raw material costs and packaging complexities. To address this concern, it has also been proposed to replace the cup assemblies with pouches. With either arrangement, given that the dough will proof within the can and thereby expand, resulting in an increase in the internal pressure of the can, care must be taken to assure that the pouch can withstand the increased internal pressure. Typically, this pressure issue is addressed in two ways, i.e., designing the can to release the building pressure and constructing the cup or pouch to withstand the increased pressure. Unfortunately, regardless of efforts expended in this field, it is not uncommon for the cups or pouches of additional ingredients to burst within the can.